Welcome to the live from me, the press. I'm Carrie. Dan. In case you thought that a global pandemic, the threat of economic calamity, and the fact that we're all stuck at home swapping canned tuna recipes might take the edge off of America's political polarization, well, let's just say I admire your optimism.
For as unique and difficult as the coronavirus situation is, it is politically largely turning into a Rorschach test for the same things that the parties fight over all the time, like what's the best way to a healthy economy, which experts should be listened to, and what values should guide our decision making. Even in this moment, there are signs that the polarization specifically around President Donald Trump is still having a huge overarching effect. You may have seen me polling in just the last few days that shows a little bit of an uptick in the president's approval rating. The latest modest poll yesterday showed that exactly half the country approved of the job he's doing handling the current health cris, while 45% disagree.
And overall, his approval rating has ticked up about 4 net percentage points. Now, depending on your political leanings and the news you consume, you might find it surprising that his approval rating has gone up right now. After all, there's been no shortage of criticism of what some have called, let's say, evolving messaging about the coronavirus from the White House, sometimes even in the course of a single press conference. But it is worthwhile to look at presidential approval in a historical context, in this historical moment.
And it turns out it's actually very typical for there to be a rally around the nation's commander in chief at a time of great national crisis, even if it doesn't necessarily last for all that long. In fact, it's typical for there to be a big rally around the commander in chief, perhaps more than what we've seen so far for President Trump after 9 11. Of course, George W. Bush's approval rating skyrocketed to 90%.
That's obviously an extreme case, but other presidents have also enjoyed more support during times of crisis. JFK's approval rating jumped by double digits during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Jimmy Carter's also went up dramatically during the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis, although of course, it fell a few months later. Barack Obama even got a brief bump after the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Now, what's noteworthy about ratings of the current president's handling of the coronavirus situation in this latest month poll is that the partisan split remains just about where it was before. Well, all of this. Just 19% of Democrats think he's doing well. Just 7% of Republicans think he's not.
But there's an interesting comparison that the same survey makes, which is asking people also whether they think their state's governor has done a good job handling the crisis as well. And what the surve governors tended to enjoy broad bipartisan support. Seven in 10 people nationwide said they thought their governor was doing a good job. That includes majorities of Republicans and Democrats.
And in the state's most affected places like California and New York and Washington states, which have taken some of the most draconian measures to contain the virus, it's even a touch higher with nearly three quarters of people saying their governor is doing a good job. So it's perhaps yet another way that Donald Trump specifically is an exception to a long standing political rule. At times of crisis, people of all ideological stripes do rally around their leaders. Maybe so far, except for this one, that's all it for us.
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